The Corridor
by Hephestus
Summary: There are few wars between good and evil; most are between one good and another good.
1. Author's Note

Hey everyone, Hephestus here! For those of you that don't know much about either series involved in the crossover, don't worry! I'll do my best to make it as accessible as possible, I won't ask any of you to do research to appreciate my story!

On the Star Trek side, this story takes place just before the First Battle of Chin'Toka (between episodes 06x25 and 06x26). The non-canon starts before the story begins when Sisko and Co. are called away to fight in the Serenity System. For those of you unfamiliar with Deep Space Nine, all you need to know is that The Federation, The Klingon Empire, and The Romulan Star Empire are at war with a power from the Gamma Quadrant called the Dominion. The Dominion got to the Alpha Quadrant by way of the Bajoran Wormhole and has since teamed up with the Cardassian Union, and this has been bad news bears for everyone else.

On the Legend of the Galactic Heroes side, this story takes place directly after Yang Wenli's famous infiltration of Iserlohn fortress (after episode 7). I put it this early in the series in order to make this flippin' huge part of the crossover more accessible as it's relatively unknown and supe-gorram complicated. If you are interested in learning more about LOGH, I suggest you go to youtube and watch to your heart's content. All the episodes and gaidens are available and subtitled in English. It has it all: space battles, politics, well-developed characters, complex issues, deep philosophy, space axe battles, laser gun fights, weird cults, more space battles, tragedy, action, scheming, greed, love, hate, war. Literally everything! I legitimately cannot promote this series enough; it is the best thing ever, my favorite thing. PERIOD. Watch it, RIGHT NOW.

…*ahem*…

I hope you enjoy my story!


	2. Chapter 1

Star Date: 51842.92

Common Era: 2374

Location: AQ-199 "Serenity" System

There was absolutely nothing valuable about the Serenity System; it possessed no habitable planets or outstanding deposits of rare minerals. The only unusual aspect about Serenity was the fact that of its thirteen planets, six were massive hydrogen based gas giants, four were ice giants, and the rest were rocky planets less than 4000 kilometers in diameter. A complete lack of minable dilithium consequently meant a complete lack of interest from most space faring nations. Even the exploration teams of the United Federation of Planets simply added the system to their database, gave it a name both notational and colloquial, and left for more interesting fare. Interestingly it was the _complete_ lack of dilithium signatures that had raised the eyebrow of Captain Benjamin Sisko, nearly every star system had at least trace amounts of the valuable crystal. The lowest concentration he'd ever heard of was a single gram spread out across an entire system, but it was _there_ nonetheless.

There was something strange here, some kind of anomaly that occasionally reared its head to daze the ship's sensors before disappearing before any meaningful information could be gathered. The Dominion knew something about it; a simple Starfleet scout craft was met with four Jem'Hadar fighters. They were protecting something, or at least Starfleet seemed to think so. They had already diverted seventy starships to this system, what was to be a minor mission for Sisko and the _Defiant_ had turned out to be an unexpectedly fierce battle that raged for two and a half days. Worse yet was that for the first time in the war the Federation and its allies were fighting back and the first step toward this end was the taking of the Chin'toka system, an offensive Sisko himself had an integral part in planning. His crew had been mobilized over three days ago to travel alongside him, Colonel Kira Nerys, Lieutenant Commander Worf, Chief Miles O'Brian, Ensign Nog, and Doctor Bashir. All were deeply involved in this war and all, save Doctor Bashir, would have been part of the momentous occasion had it not been for a split-second decision on behalf of Starfleet Command: they were slightly closer therefore they all go.

'_I should be there. Our first offensive into __**their**__ territory in the whole war and they send me to some backwater-_' the ship shook violently as a polaron beam impacted the _Defiant_'s shields. '_Priorities Benjamin! Get it together!_'

"Five Jem'Hadar fighters closing in on our six! Range: one thousand kilometers." Nog said from his piloting console. "I think they're trying to get us into a delta-pattern crossfire, sir!"

'_Coordinated wide-angle fire…damn. They'll probably fire short duration shots to get us to move, and when we do they'll hit us with two or more ships. If we try to dodge one beam we'll bank into the other ship's solutions and expose our flank at the same time._' Captain Sisko leaned forwards in his chair, thinking for a moment. '_We bank down and they gut us, we bank up and they flay us…_'

There was a hissing crack as a burst arced across Defiant's dorsal surface; no damage but it confirmed Captain Sisko's prediction.

Nog had arrived at a similar conclusion and kept the ship steady, but was still performing small bobbing and weaving maneuvers to minimize damage. "Captain, your orders?"

Captain Sisko allowed a small smile to tug at the sides of his mouth. "Ensign Nog, on the count of three I want you to set the inertial dampeners on maximum before rotating us on our Y-Axis 90 degrees and breaking hard. Mr. Worf, prepare two quantum torpedoes and charge the phasers capacitors to maximum. We're going to make them regret bunching together like that! Understood?"

"Yes captain!" They both said in unison.

"All hands brace for deceleration!"

"One…Two…" Captain Sisko waited for the opportune moment, giving his crew time to prepare. "…Three!"

Nog enacted a series of movements and the Defiant spun onto her side just as two beams raced past. The _Defiant_ groaned as the deceleration was barely contained by the dampers and the Jem'Hadar to overshot her instantaneously.

"Mr. Worf, now!"

The Defiant angled herself and commenced a short swooping motion, her pulse phasers blazing as quantum torpedoes burst forwards. The Jem'Hadar fighters shook and sparked under the punishment before two quantum torpedoes detonated against the two ships adjacent to the formation leader. The close-knit formation was engulfed in an explosion, the crew of the Defiant watched on as five small flares joined the expanding ball of plasma, one after the other.

"Yes!" Nog cheered.

"Five fighters for two torpedoes, there's a bargain if ever I heard one!" Kira said triumphantly.

Miles O'Brian looked up from his console and smirked. "Look! The Dominion's pulling back to the forth gas giant. Looks like we can breathe easy for the time being."

Captain Sisko sighed heavily. '_It's about time the Jem'Hadar broke off! Two and a half days of fighting and maybe two hours of sleep between them…Well, no rest for the wicked…or the Jem'Hadar,_' he pinched his nose and rubbed his eyes. "Damage and casualty reports."

Kira tapped a few commands into her console. "Four wounded on the _Defiant_, we've sustained significant damage to our ventral ablative plating, we'll probably have to report to the _Brockway_ for repairs, it's only ship with replicators and shuttle bays big enough to fabricate what we need."

"Hmm, awfully kind of them to send us a modified Galaxy Class like that. I suppose it's their way of apologizing for the lack of reinforcements. Can't say I care much for her captain, I'm afraid," Sisko said with a sigh. "We need all the help we can get though. What were the fleet's causalities?"

"For this fight alone? Seven ships destroyed: two Centaur class ships, the _Praetor_ and the _McClintock_; two Miranda class ships, the _Sewanee_ and the _Gilead_; two Ambassador class ships, the _Archimago_ and the _Belladonna_; and a single Akira class, the _Don_ _Juan_. Then there's nine ships too damaged to go to warp let alone fight, over thirty fighters lost, and a healthy round of black eyes and split lips the fleet over," O'Brian said, a tired look on his face. "The Jem'Hadar are kicking and screaming to hold this system, there's _got_ to be something here we're just not seeing."

"Maybe they think _we're_ the ones hiding something?" Nog said with a shrug. "This fight started with six ships altogether and two days later we've got almost sixty still fighting! There's been so much escalation it's hard to tell who's reacting to who!"

"Fifty ensign," Worf corrected. "Forty-one if you discount the ones that can't fight anymore. Thirty ships destroyed or disabled in two days, 120 fighters, all with the rest of the fleet slowly being ground down! We can't keep this up without reinforcements!"

"Hold that thought…" Kira said looking at Nog and then Worf. "I've just received a communiqué from Starfleet. They said that they've detected a diversion of 220 Dominion ships, about 150 of which are attack ships and gunships, ETA 23:00." Kira held her hand to her ear, her face lighting up slightly as the message progressed. "This mission has been made high priority for reasons Starfleet won't discuss over unsecure channels. They've already mobilized thirty federation ships to reinforce us, but they say to expect thirty-five ships from the Klingons and twenty-five from the Romulans to show up as well. Overall ETA for allied forces 22:50. In addition to what's left of the Dominion fleet here, it looks like we've got a bit of a scrap coming up, sir."

"I expected nothing less from the Dominion. A future reinforcement means they'll probably commence with suicide tactics for their damaged vessels, so we'll have to be more careful from now on. Starfleet seems to be taking this situation seriously, I expected them to order us to withdraw back to Deep Space 9 and give this pointless battle to the Dominion! What _is_ it that makes this place a high priority all of a sudden?" Sisko said with a tired smirk. "…I guess I'll ask when they get here…The Vorta in that fleet will want to wait for those reinforcements of theirs and the orders that comes with them too. Let's use that time to get to work on those repairs. I'll be in the battle room talking with the other captains."

"Not so fast, sir," said a voice behind him, Doctor Bashir had finished treating a burn on an ensign's arm and was now walking towards his captain. "You need to get some sleep first."

"Doctor, I respect your opinion…"

"Fact, sir," he interrupted. "You've been displaying symptoms of sleep deprivation and my medical tricorder doesn't lie. You've led us against ten extremely stressful incursions over the past 60 hours on less than two hours of sleep, I highly recommend you take this time to rest."

"Recommendation noted, doctor," Sisko said with irritation in his voice. "The Jem'Hadar don't sleep, so I can't afford to. Ensign, hail the _Brockway_ and tell Captain Roark we'll be coming over for repairs, and that a captain's meeting will be held in fifteen minutes."

"Belay the last part of that order ensign," Doctor Bashir said flintily. "Captain, I don't want to relieve you of your command, but I _will_ if you endanger yourself and the crew."

Sisko paused and slumped in his chair. "Colonel Nerys, wake me up at 20:00 hours, I'll-"

"22:00 hours Captain." Doctor Bashir said as he made his way to Sisko. " At least, sir. Your stress hormone levels demand it."

Sisko got up and made his way towards the door, a good-natured smile on his face. "You may have to sedate me doctor, I won't go quietly."

"If I run out of sedative I still have my phaser, sir."

Captain Garret S. Roark sat in his chair, his dark black hair prim and clean despite the sorry state of the bridge, a ruptured EPS conduit had injured four of his bridge crew and started multiple fires. Nonetheless, appearances needed to be upheld. He was the captain and therefore represented his ship so he had to be at his best, the crew could take care of the ship while he cleaned himself up. He was unusually young for a captain at 28, but wars tended to have that effect on the chain of command. The _Brockway_'s original captain had been killed four months ago during battle and it was Roark's actions in her stead that not only saved the _Brockway_ from destruction but the 20,000 refugees fleeing the Dominion advance. He had done quite well under pressure and this battle had proven his initial success was not a mere fluke.

The Dominion had brought in a battle cruiser eighteen hours ago to serve as their command ship, or at least that's what _he_ thought. Captain Sisko begged to differ; he just couldn't seem to connect the dots like Roark could. The largest most powerful ship had to be the command vessel because why else would it be there? But Captain Sisko ordered him not to engage, citing some foolish gains/damage ratio as a reason not to. However, as the tenth battle progressed Captain Sisko was too preoccupied to notice as Roark organized twelve ships on his flanks and rushed the battle cruiser. It had been a difficult battle, five of the ships had been destroyed and the rest were severely damaged. Even the _Brockway_ had suffered multiple hull breaches, but the battle cruiser had been destroyed along with eight Jem'Hadar fighters and seven Cardassian gunboats. The Dominion forces didn't withdraw right away, but within half an hour they enacted a sloppy retreat. Like chicken with its head cut off, it took them a while to realize they had been beaten.

"Captain," Lieutenant Commander Cromwell said. "Damage and casualty reports are in. There are multiple hull breaches on decks six, seven, eight, eleven, twelve, fourteen, twenty, twenty-two, twenty four, and thirty."

"No hull breaches in the engineering section?" Captain Roark interjected. "Looks like that ablative armor upgrade around the engineering section was worth the time it took to get it on."

"Yes sir, it was sir. Anyway, reports are coming in about fluctuations in the power grid and impaired structural integrity fields causing overloads and explosive decompression in the saucer section. As of 16:00 the armory chief tells us that we have 100 photon torpedoes left and that power surges have rendered the modifications to the forward torpedo launcher inoperative, as such we cannot use our quantum torpedo compliment.

"We lost two dorsal phaser arrays to enemy fire and as of 16:10 power surges have damaged the port-bow ventral phaser array. As for casualties, rupturing EPS conduits and enemy fire wounded ninety-eight with thirty in critical condition, there are twenty-four confirmed dead from all over the ship and seventeen in critical condition…Commander Tolloq included."

Roark sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Well, that battle cruiser needed to be destroyed, it was expected that we would come away a little worse for wear. Any word from Captain Sisko?"

Cromwell's eye twitched. "…Yes sir."

'_Damn…_' was almost uttered. "What does he say?"

"The captain himself is sleeping, but the _Defiant_ is coming our way requesting the use of six our industrial replicators and two of our maintenance shuttles to synthesize twelve tons of ablative armor plating to repair themselves."

Roark's brow furrowed. '_Why are we relaying all our orders through that stubby little thing? _The _Brockway is a modified Galaxy class, it's the strongest ship in this fleet!_'

"Sir?" Lieutenant Commander Cromwell inquired. "How shall I respond?"

"Hmm? We have our own repairs to conduct, give them access to one of our large-scale replicators and a class-B shuttle, I want to get under way as soon as possible." Roark said dismissively.

Lieutenant Commander Cromwell suppressed an exasperated groan and nodded. "Yes sir."

"A single replicator?!" Kira exclaimed. "It'll take us hours just to synthesize enough plating, let alone actually attach it to the ship! Who the hell does Roark think he is?!"

"That he is captain of _The Brockway_," Worf said sternly. "He said he needed as many replicators as possible to repair his own ship, and not without reason."

They looked out at the Galaxy class starship on the view screen. Shuttlecraft and crewmen surrounded it as they frantically patched the multiple holes torn into its fuselage. The ship had large patches of ablative armor up to 25 centimeters thick over vulnerable areas that looked like it had been slapped on in a space dock, likely because it had been. Areas like the nacelles and most of the engineering section were covered in the plating while the patches on the saucer section appeared to only protect the impulse engines and the bridge. It seemed to have worked though, there were several scorch marks and craters in the armor where weapon's fire had gotten through the shields, had the _Brockway_ been a normal Galaxy class she likely would have been crippled if not outright destroyed.

"Even with upgrades like ablative armor and improved shields he still manages to beat the hell out of his own ship…" Kira said dourly.

"And not just his own ship," Chief O'Brian said as he walked onto the bridge. "I was just talking with some of the _Brockway_ engineers who came over to help. I seems that Captain Roark organized a strike team while we were preoccupied, he took twelve other ships and attacked the Jem'Hadar battle cruiser and its escort vessels."

"What?!" Kira exclaimed. "And he survived?"

O'Brian nodded. "And then some. All escorts were neutralized and the battle cruiser was completely destroyed."

"Admirable," Worf rumbled. "The battle cruiser alone would be a formidable enemy, but he was also outnumbered. The man is indeed brave."

"More like stupid!" Kira seethed. "_And_ insubordinate, captain Sisko explicitly told him not to attack when he brought it up at the captain's meeting!"

O'Brian shook his head and exhaled quietly. "Not only that, but can you guess where most of our casualties came from in this battle? Out of the twelve ships that followed Roark into battle seven made it back, all of which are too damaged to go to warp!"

"Still, his accomplishments are considerable," Worf said with a nod. "Five ships for 16 enemies is a feat deserving of praise, if only from a tactical standpoint."

"Tell that to the 1500 people who died for it," Kira said acerbically. "Success or no, Benjamin's going to let him have it when he wakes up. That was a direct violation of orders."

Ensign Bertram chuckled and turned to Nog from across the room. "I don't envy the person who breaks the news to the Captain, he's been in a bit of a mood as of late."

"Yeah well, I'd get pretty angry too if I was called away from my battle plan to get stuck in some worthless system," Nog said. "The operation to retake Chin'toka begins in two days, and by the looks of the reinforcements coming in I don't think we'll get to participate."

"Just as well," Ensign Bertram said wearily. "If Chin'toka goes as planned there'll be plenty more battles. Mark my words, this war is far from over."


	3. Chapter 2

Universal Calendar: 05/17/796

Imperial Calendar: 05/17/487

Common Era: 05/17/3596

Location: Tiamat Star Zone

A cluster of small lights raced through space as 6200 warships made their way to the outer edge of the Tiamat gravity well. In a scant few minutes they would be far enough away from the Tiamat star to warp and begin their two-week journey back to the Barlat Star Zone. The victorious 13th Fleet had just returned from a suicide mission not only successful but also completely intact. The majority of the 13th Fleet followed their flagship towards their capital whilst the remaining 200 stayed to secure the spoils of their miraculous mission. Theirs was an undersized fleet, less than half the number of a standard fleet commanded by a rear admiral. It had been assembled from the smoldering remains of three fleets after a disastrous battle; a battle that had put near fatal strain on the economy of their sovereign nation, the Free Planets Alliance.

After 150 years of near constant war, the Free Planets Alliance was beginning to fatigue in its struggle against its opponent, the Galactic Empire. A holdover from a bygone era the Free Planets Alliance was a revival of republican democracy after centuries of autocratic oppression under the heel of an increasingly corrupt dynasty. When legendary republican Ale Heinessen launched his exodus of political prisoners, he had a fleet of 80 generational ships and a following of 400,000 people. Unfortunately for the republicans the only way to escape their oppressors was to brave the dangerous gulfs between galactic spiral arms Orion and Sagittarius. Filled with mysterious and dangerous gravitational anomalies that made simple sublight travel dangerous and rendered warp drives useless the voyage through this space was not only long but incredibly dangerous. It was only due to serendipitous fortune that the beleaguered fleet found small corridors of navigable space between the galactic arms and, after 80 years and the loss of sixty percent of their original number, including Heinessen himself, their long journey of 10,000 lightyears had come to an end. It was only a matter of time before Galactic Empire found them again and a single fateful battle sparked 150 years of bloodshed.

The FPA had started out with inferior numbers, resources, territory, and technology to the Galactic Empire but through determination and luck it had managed to muster a force capable of defending itself from its older and larger enemy. But constant warfare and ever-increasing levels of bureaucratic corruption began to take its toll; the FPA's ability to wage war had started to visibly erode. The 13th Fleet itself appeared to be a physical microcosm of the decay and lack of vitality that had taken hold in the Free Planets Alliance. From its very conception the 13th Fleet had been something of a sardonic joke on behalf of the navy as it was undersized, underpowered, and staffed by an impossible combination of jaded veterans and fretful greenhorns. The initial sentiment shared amidst the fleet personnel was that of bitter resignation to a pointless death. At this juncture merely returning home alive from a standard sortie would have been an impossibly hopeful prospect, but the sheer scope of the Joke Fleet's maiden voyage dashed those hopes immediately, and all because of one word:

Iserlohn.

Of the two known navigational corridors between Orion and Sagittarius, the politically neutral Dominion of Phezzan occupied one. Unable to sustain a military large enough to defend itself, Phezzan instead served as a linchpin of trade between the two states. With significant economic stakes in the tiny nation, neither the FPA nor the Galactic Empire could afford to threaten Phezzan's sovereignty; as such there could be no passage of military assets through Phezzani space. The other corridor, known as the Iserlohn Corridor, held within it no habitable planets on which to base a nation or an otherwise significant economic entity, but was nonetheless impassable to the Free Planets Alliance. Lurking within the corridor's narrowest section was the enormous Iserlohn Fortress. This monstrous Imperial battle station had become an obsession of the Free Planets Alliance's military brass, which had become consumed with its subjugation or destruction.

Beautiful to behold, it was a perfect sphere sixty kilometers, wreathed in mirror-surfaced Hydrometal armor. A seemingly impossible substance, Hydrometal served as a permeable hull that could be altered to permit entry and exit for the fortress's garrison fleet while offering no opening for attack, filling the role of a deflector shield without added power consumption. Lasers scattered, electron beams ricocheted, and even powerful neutron beams were totally and harmlessly deflected across its mirror surface. EM-Accelerator projectiles would penetrate the first meter or so on momentum alone before the dynamic liquid surface filled in the hole and scattered the high-energy plasma like steam. Missiles could be made to slowly penetrate the armor and detonate their powerful fusion warheads, but doing so required low speeds and close range engagement to prevent interception, and it was at close range Iserlohn could truly bear her teeth.

Countless defense towers could rise from the armor and engage attacking ships, each tower holding high-powered neutron beam cannons similar to those found on a battleship. These defense platforms would work in tandem with Iserlohn's internally docked garrison fleet of roughly 20,000 warships, either providing covering fire or assisting in crossfire tactics. Failing that, Iserlohn could deploy her primary weapon, a gargantuan energy cannon known as the Thor Hammer. Twelve enormous focusing towers would extend from the Hydrometal armor as they began the firing sequence. Powered by a fusion core several orders of magnitude the volume of any warship's, the resulting blast could destroy thousands of warships in a single shot regardless of shields or armor. Due to the narrowness of the Iserlohn Corridor and the sheer destructive power of the fortress, the Galactic Empire effectively denied any hope of counterattack or invasion of Imperial territory by the Free Planets Alliance for exactly thirty years.

Or rather, it _had_.

For all its shortcomings both hardware and manpower related, the 13th Fleet possessed a force far greater than a hundred thousand warships and more destructive than a hundred Iserlohns. That force was the mind of its admiral, a slender and unimposing man by the name of Yang Wenli. Where the admirals before him regarded Iserlohn with a vendetta-like mindset, as a beast to be destroyed utterly, Yang Wenli's mind was unclouded by the haze of a bruised ego or by the glory and honor that would surely be awarded to Iserlohn's destroyer. With a small fleet and an enormous burden Rear admiral Yang Wenli formulated a plan as simple as it was effective:

1.) Lure away the garrison fleet.

2.) The classic Trojan Horse tactic.

3.) Move the fleet into the fortress.

Where other Admirals were obsessed with overpowering Iserlohn in a show of bravado and potency, Yang took into account not only the complacency thirty years of total victory was sure to breed, but also the legendarily combative nature of the fortress's two commanding officers, Admiral Seeckt of the fleet and Fortress Commander Admiral Stockhausen. Eager to undermine one another by seeking combat and glory, separating the two was no great feat. Luring the much larger garrison fleet away with thousands of decoys positioned several hours' travel away; Yang then approached Iserlohn in faux-pursuit of a captured Imperial cruiser. After some token resistance Yang withdrew his fleet and the captured Imperial vessel was soon inside Iserlohn's walls, taking with it its cargo of over 200 elite soldiers known as the Rosen Ritters. Once inside, the Knights of the Rose gained access to the command center through subterfuge and caught the complacent station staff completely off guard. A mere hour later and the mighty fortress Iserlohn was completely under the command of Rear Admiral Yang Wenli.

He had not only accomplished this impossible feat but had done so without losing a single ship and without spilling a drop of allied blood. Further cementing his rapport with his elated fleet, Yang magnanimously allowed most of the station's Imperial personnel to escape along with their defeated battle fleet rather than engage in vengeful slaughter. Now the victorious 13th Fleet returned to a hero's welcome alongside their beloved admiral 'Miracle' Yang Wenli. The battleship _Hyperion_ made it's way into the territory of the Free Planets Alliance.

Rear Admiral Yang Wenli reclined in his chair as he stared out at space. He sipped his tea quietly, '_Well…I did my job. Maybe now I can retire and keep out of this foolish conflict…and maybe Kaiser Friedrich IV will spontaneously become a democrat and end the war. After what I've done here there's no going back, capturing Iserlohn is just the beginning of this political gong show._' He sipped more of his tea, intending to finish it before it started to cool, '_Pro-war types will wriggle their way out of the woodwork to incite a fervor. Victory of this kind will be like a disastrous new drug that will drive the citizens of the FPA into a war-frenzy the economy cannot hope to support! An ideal politician would use Iserlohn to barter a peace with the Empire, to deny his people what they want in favor of what they need. All I've done is given a critically ill patient a stimulant when what they truly need is bed rest. Is that what war has reduced me to, a petty dealer of the 'Victory' drug?_'

A chime from the view screen drew his attention from his thoughts. On the screen was a tall silver haired man with a moustache, Commodore Erwin Fischer. "Rear Admiral Yang?"

"Yes Commodore Fischer?"

Commodore Fischer saluted, ever the professional. "We're approaching the warp threshold for this star system, we'll reach minimum distance in five minutes, optimum distance in ten."

Yang nodded, rubbing his head under his beret, he knew that Fischer would not contact him just to bring up something trivial like that. "But?"

"Long range scans from over a thousand different ships have detected something strange in the space ahead. It doesn't seem to be interactive with electromagnetic sensors, but gravimetric and FTL sensors are detecting _something_, if only for a small amount of time."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Can you make anything of it?"

"No, it comes and goes so quickly we can't formulate any workable data," Fischer said while looking at his report. "It's just static, but it's coming from a single location exactly 2 light seconds in diameter approximately 1 lightminute ahead."

Yang nodded, not wanting to take any unnecessary risks. "Tell the fleet to conduct a five degree shift port on our x-axis and then a ten second main engine burn, that should put a few thousand kilometers between us and whatever that thing is when we get there. Keep the sensors tuned, see if you can get any further readings as we draw closer. And just to be safe try warping at minimum distance, I don't want to get too close to that thing if it's a threat."

"Yes, Your Excellency," Fischer said with a salute. "Warp in four minutes eighteen seconds."

Yang returned the salute and Fischer's image vanished from the screen. '_Hm. I thought military's navigators had already mapped every cubic centimeter of this region of space. I suppose they could have missed something, but something that big? Either way it's not surprising, the region of space between the galactic arms is full of anomalies that affect navigation, it's hardly a stretch of the imagination to have a few in the space surrounding that space._' He sighed deeply, unable to shake the apprehension that had been growing since the first mention of the phenomena. '_My gut remains unconvinced. "Yeah, you keep rationalizing" It says "I'll focus on keeping us alive!" It's hard to argue against, that's for sure._'

He raised the cup to his lips, tilting it back further and further before realizing he had finished it. "Oh."

"Rear Admiral," A voice said from behind.

Yang turned around, the voice belonged to a pretty young woman, she had short sandy-blonde hair and large hazel eyes, on her sleeve she bore the half-patch and oblong insignia of a sub-lieutenant, it was Frederica Greenhill. "Oh. Sub-Lieutenant Greenhill."

She smiled softly and held out a steaming cup of black tea. "I figured you would have finished that cup by now, sir."

Yang smiled and reached out and grabbed it. "Thank you Sub-Lieutenant."

She stood at his side for a moment; she seemed to be mulling something over in her mind, indecisive as to whether or not to voice her thoughts.

Yang cleared his throat. "Do you have something to say, Sub-Lieutenant?"

She straightened out her posture, her expression now that of standard military stoicism. "Sir! I was simply wondering what your thoughts on the recent victory were, sir. What do you think will happen now?"

Yang shrugged and smiled. "I'd like to _think_ that our leaders would seize this opportunity to barter a peace, or in the very least a ceasefire."

She nodded and said, "And what do you _know_ will happen?"

"Just the opposite," he said and sagged back into his chair. "The politicians will use this victory to keep themselves in office. Following the example of 'more is better', they'll probably promise more victories over the 'evil empire', in the process condemning the Free Planets Alliance to economic and humanitarian disaster. It's a historical precedent, these things happen again and again. Strange isn't it? Knowledge of the past begets knowledge of the future, and yet the role the historian is much like Cassandra of myth."

"Not a very promising future," she said grimly. "You believe the war will continue?"

Yang shook his head. "On the contrary. I believe the war will end quite soon. Whether or not it's an end we'll like, well, that's another thing altogether." Yang noticed the slightly sullen look on her face and cleared his throat. "…Buuut…then again what do I know? History is full of patterns, sure, but it's also full of unforeseeable events."

"So we should keep our minds open, Rear Admiral?" she said. "Hope for the best as we move forward?"

"That's right Sub-Lieutenant," Yang said. '_Keep an open mind. Hope for the best…Pray._'

A chime sounded over the intercom. "Warp will commence in T-minus one minute. We are estimated to arrive in the El Facil star zone at 23:33."

Yang checked his watch; it read 23:32:12. "El Facil?"

Frederica smiled and shrugged. "I guess the navigational officer wants to start the victory parade early."

Yang rubbed his beret and leaned back in his chair. "It's going to be a long trip back home…"

The ships of the fleet drifted towards the threshold of the star's gravity well, only able to warp once the immense presence of the star had been lessened by distance. The ships charged up their warp drives and powerful forces began to fold and bridge space-time. The ships became encased in a glowing white light as the distortions stabilized into a working bridge. As the ships moved out of realspace, a flash appeared in the space before them and an enormous swirling anomaly exploded into existence. The fleet disappeared in an instant and the swirling entrance closed its mouth.


	4. Chapter 3

Star Date: 51843.55

Common Era: 2374

Location: Serenity System

21:33

Benjamin Sisko tossed in his sleep; Doctor Bashir almost had to sedate him after all, his mind had been even more restless since he received word of allied reinforcements.

What was it about this place? The Dominion was sending almost two hundred ships to bolster their forces here, nearly a third of which were above cruiser class, and the Allied Forces were sending 90 ships in response! Images of explosions and the ragged cry of warning klaxons sounded in his head. This was by no means the largest battle he had taken part in, but it had the dubious honor of simultaneously being one of the longer continuous battles he had ever participated as well as one of the most pointless.

An extended note rang through the air and Benjamin's eyes snapped open and Worf's voice sounded over the com. "Captain Sisko. Your presence required on the bridge."

Sisko inhaled through his nose and rubbed his face; while the sleep had removed a lot of the fatigue he had been feeling he still had the unmistakable weight of dread on his shoulders. Something was fundamentally wrong.

"I'm on my way Mr. Worf, has the Dominion launched their assault…" He looked at the clock. "…An hour and a half early?"

"No sir, but we have a new arrival," Worf said with an uncharacteristic lilt in his voice, something akin to excitement. "The _Enterprise_."

Sisko's head snapped up. "I'll be right there."

The _Enterprise_-E made her way towards the fleet at high impulse. As a Sovereign-class starship she was the most advanced and most powerful vessel in the Federation fleet. She had been outfitted for war with multiple phaser arrays, four photon torpedo launchers, and a rapid-fire quantum torpedo turret. Her shields and systems were specially designed to resist the Borg, a foe more powerful and implacable than The Dominion by a significant margin, and they had served her well during the war. As she drew closer several spectrums of scanning equipment cycled through the system, feeding data through computer.

Lieutenant Commander Data sat at the Ops Console, his hands gliding over the surface with inhuman speed. "Captain, collected sensor data suggest that the next event will be occurring in roughly twenty minutes."

Captain Jean Luc Picard reclined in his chair and turned to Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, fingers tapping the armrests in muted apprehension. "Will that be enough time for you and Mr. Data to set up your experiment?"

Geordi nodded and looked over to Data. "All the comparative information is ready along with the necessary calculations. Data, can you boost the subspace sensor's sensitivity any higher? I want to be absolutely sure that we're getting all we can."

"Yes, I believe I can effect an increase of .901% by altering the input-sorting algorithm to include certain background events as usable data," Data said, his hands now a blur over the console. "The modifications are done. With your permission I will now accompany Lieutenant Commander La Forge to astrometrics to run simulations."

"Proceed," Picard said with a nod. "I expect you to be done by the time the next anomaly occurs. If this anomaly is what you think it is there can be no margin for error."

Data and Geordi both nodded and exited the bridge, the door hissing shut behind them.

"For once I pray that Mr. Data and Mr. La Forge are wrong," Picard said to a tall bearded man to his right, Commander William T. Riker.

Riker shook his head. "We can't afford wishful thinking sir, The Dominion has sent almost 200 ships in a single detachment. That doesn't fit the escalation pattern we've seen here, they know something and I'm willing to bet that they've arrived at the same conclusion we have."

Picard looked out at the fleet on the screen. "Ensign Cill, what's the status of the fleet?"

Ensign Cill, a young Bolian woman, sat down in Data's seat and began to dictate the readings. "Of the seventy starships sent to this system fifty starships remain, six of which are currently incapable of warp due to battle damage. According to scans, three of the six disabled ships are beyond repair. Of the 300 fighters carried by the fleet 180 remain, 165 of which are presently in fighting condition."

Picard nodded and examined the ships before him. Every single ship bore the marks of combat; swaths of plating stripped away, exposing the scaffolding underneath; hulls crumpled and torn from explosions either tearing their way in or clawing their way out; saucer sections bearing holes clean through, some of which still sparked and glowed as ruptured conduits arced across the ionized metal. Repairs or no, Picard could see at least nine ships that would not survive another incursion. Shields could only do so much when the structural integrity of the defended object is impaired.

"Sir, we are receiving a communication from the fleet," Ensign Kell Perim said. "One is from Captain Benjamin Sisko of the _Defiant_, and the other is from Captain Garret Roark of _The_ _Brockway_. They both are requesting an audience with you."

"Garret Roark?" Picard said before remembering. "Ah yes, Kathryn Wall's first officer. So he made captain after all. Hmm, not to speak ill of the dead but it seems he has inherited his former captain's vociferous attributes."

Riker nodded and thought to himself. '_I'd expect nothing less from the XO of Captain 'Katter-Wall'._'

Picard turned to a Trill ensign manning the communications station. "Ensign Perim, tell them to beam aboard. What we have to tell them needs to be discussed in person."

"Yes sir."

Sisko stood from his chair on the Defiant's bridge after the communications disengaged. "I suppose one of perks of commanding the Federation flagship is getting everywhere fashionably early. I wonder what they have to tell us…" he turned to Worf and smirked. "Mr. Worf, would you care to join me on the _Enterprise_? Your history with Picard may make things go more smoothly."

"Yes sir," Worf said with a small nod. "It would be my honor."

Sisko turned to Kira. "Colonel, I leave you in charge of the _Defiant_."

"Yes sir," she said as they walked out the door. '_Good luck to you Worf, this is going to be a mighty uncomfortable meeting…_'

As Worf and Sisko made their way to the transporter bay Worf noticed a small sideways utterance from his captain. "Sir?"

"Hmm? Oh sorry," Sisko said absent-mindedly. "Just talking to myself."

"May I inquire as to what, sir?" Worf said insistently.

"A little bit of everything really," Sisko said. "Why would they send the _Enterprise_ of all ships, just what is it about this system that makes it so important, and what is Captain Roark doing approaching the _Enterprise_ like that? He's been a captain for four months, does he think just because he's captain of a Galaxy class that makes him special?"

Worf blinked before exclaiming, "Sir, forgive me for my forgetfulness, but I have some information about Captain Roark's performance during the battle you may wish to hear."

"I'm listening…" Sisko said lowly, already connecting the dots in his head.

"Captain, while the _Defiant_ was preoccupied and the rest of the fleet was engaged Captain Roark led an expedition against a Dominion battle cruiser and its escorts," Worf said dutifully.

"He _what_?!" Sisko exclaimed. "I ordered him not to engage!"

"Yes sir, casualties were high. Of the twelve ships that accompanied _The_ _Brockway_ into battle seven made it back, all were severely damaged."

Sisko stopped outside the transporter room and slammed his fist on the wall. "That insubordinate…and what of the battle cruiser?"

"Destroyed," Worf said. "Along with fifteen escorts. He _was_ victorious, sir."

"Quite victorious," Sisko said flatly. "He gets results, I'll give him that, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that I told him not to engage! He violated a direct order and now because of him an additional seven ships were severely damaged, likely too damaged to survive another encounter! I was planning on wearing down their escort squadrons and fighter screens before launching a collective offensive on the capital ships. Casualties would have been lower that way…"

"Then it is a good thing Captain Roark has such a high opinion of himself, you will get to 'discuss' the matter in person on board the _Enterprise_," Worf said with added stress on 'discuss'.

Sisko stepped out in front of the door and it opened with a hiss, the two officers walked in. "You're an incurable optimist, Mr. Worf."

"Indeed, sir."

Captain Garret Roark smirked to himself as the screen went black. The man himself, Captain Jean Luc Picard, had invited him over for a secret meeting. Captain Sisko was invited too but he was the fleet commander, so that was to be expected. Jean Luc Picard had deemed him worthiest out of the others in the fleet to attend this meeting that was too important to discuss even over encrypted subspace channels. Naturally, he would have to bring an officer along with him, Commander Tolloq having been rendered vegetative by a piece of shrapnel the only option was Lieutenant Commander Zachary Cromwell.

He turned to Lieutenant Commander Cromwell. "Mr. Cromwell, how would you like to accompany me to the _Enterprise_?"

"Sir, don't you think you should stay on the _Brockway_? We're still getting casualty reports from engineering and the saucer section, the crew-"

Captain Roark raised his hand and cut him off. "I have the utmost faith in my crew, Mr. Cromwell. I believe it is well within their abilities to manage the ship while I am away."

"Sir that's…" Cromwell said before exhaling and nodding. "Yes sir, I understand. However, this being a commanding officers-only meeting, I believe I would be a hindrance. Please, allow me to stay behind and command in your stead."

Captain Roark nodded and smirked. "If you wish. Tell transporter room three to prepare to beam me to the _Enterprise_."

"Transporter room three was destroyed by a direct hit, transporter rooms one through four are inoperative." Cromwell said bluntly. "Reports coming in suggest that the only operational transporter room is on deck thirty-five."

Captain Roark sighed and nodded. "Very well, contact transporter room seventeen and tell them to expect me."

"Communications are down in that area," Cromwell said with a muted smile. "…Sir."

Captain Roark departed without a word, making his way through the battered ship to transporter room seventeen. '_I don't particularly like that man…_'

Captain Picard stood in the conference lounge with Commander Riker at his side. It had been a long time since he'd seen Benjamin Sisko, and even then they were not on what one would call the best of terms. While things had indeed gotten better between the two of them, Sisko having switched from outright hostility to tolerance, their relationship was hardly friendly. Benjamin Sisko had been serving on board the USS _Saratoga_ during the fateful battle with the Borg at Wolf-359, during which Picard himself had been assimilated and as Locutus had assisted the Borg in destroying the fleet. Over 11,000 people died that day, including Sisko's wife. Picard felt a pang of guilt; another face had been put to that terrible number, another family destroyed. He had been forgiven for his actions, by his friends and by the Federation, but nothing could make him forgive himself.

"Jean Luc…" Riker said quietly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…there's just a little tension between Captain Sisko and I," Picard said with a small negating gesture. "His wife was killed at Wolf-359. He doesn't blame me for it anymore, but it's still a factor in our interactions."

Riker nodded and tapped the chair in front of him. "From what I've heard Benjamin Sisko is a consummate professional when it comes to The Dominion, he shouldn't let something like that interfere with the mission."

Picard rubbed his chin in thought when a prolonged chime emanated from the door. "Come in."

The door hissed open and a tall young man of about thirty walked in, he straightened out his uniform and looked up. "Captain Garret Roark of the USS _Brockway_ reporting, sir!"

Picard nodded and gestured to the chair across from Commander Riker. "At ease captain. Have a seat would you?"

Captain Roark smiled quickly and sat down. "If I may, please allow me to say that it is a profound honor to have been called here, Captain Picard. To work with living legends such as yourself and Commander Riker is-"

Picard lifted his hand in a halting gesture, signaling to Roark to cease. "Thank you captain, but pleasantries will have to wait until after the meeting. I'm afraid we are the bearers of bad news."

Captain Roark's smile dropped. "Of course sir, I apologize. May I inquire as to what bad news you bear?"

"That will have to wait until Captain Sisko and Lieutenant Commander Worf have arrived," Commander Riker said as he turned to look out the window, spying the _Brockway_ as it hovered fifteen kilometers away. "She's a good ship, but I can't say I care for how the armor has been applied. Looks somewhat ram-shackle."

"But it is effective nonetheless, sir," Roark said with a tight nod. "In fact, I believe that it is because of that armor that the _Brockway_ is still operational."

"Yes…" Picard said with a low voice. "That and her enhanced shields, she does seem to have taken quite the beating though. I see dozens of patched hull breaches across ten decks, something of an intense battle hmm? Would that be why you are lacking in company?"

"Err…yes…yes sir," Roark said uncomfortably, aware that they were gauging him by his next answer. "Lieutenant Commander Cromwell had some duties to attend to on the _Brockway_, and Commander Tolloq is still alive but in critical condition. I fear he may yet be another casualty like fifty of my crew."

Picard blinked and sighed, 'I'm sorry for your loss. It's never easy to lose even one crewmember, but such is the burden of a captain."

"Indeed," Roark said quickly, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Picard.

There was another chime and the door hissed open, revealing the imposing figures of both Captain Sisko and Lieutenant Commander Worf.

"Captain Sisko, Mr. Worf," Picard said with a smile. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise," Sisko said curtly as he leveled a glare at Roark. "Just how did you get here so quickly, Captain Roark?"

"Yes," Commander Riker said. "I see that deck six took a few bad hits, must have knocked out the transporters."

Roark inhaled sharply, "Yes, in fact the only operational transporter room remaining was on deck thirty-five. That would have taken far too long to reach so I simply used the transporters in one of the shuttles on deck four."

Riker nodded and smirked. "It seems like such an obvious answer for a serious problem, and yet it is often overlooked by commanding officers."

Roark smiled and nodded, ego suitably stroked, when Sisko broke in, "Yes, an interesting solution to a serious problem. Tell me, how did your ship sustain such damage?"

Roark fidgeted and attempted to answer when Picard cut him off, "Captain Sisko, time is a luxury we do not have, if it's all the same to you I would prefer to get this meeting underway."

"Of course," Sisko said, still giving Roark and intense look. "May we begin, sir?"

Picard sat down and gestured for them to do the same. "Please, have a seat."

They did. Picard leaned forwards and gestured towards the gathered officers. "My officers will be joining us momentarily, so I will begin. I have called you both here above all others for a reason; Captain Sisko, as commander of the fleet stationed in AQ-99 it is of the utmost importance that you attend; Captain Roark, as the commanding officer of the most powerful ship next to the _Enterprise_ your performance in the preceding events may be invaluable and it is therefore in our best interests to grant you certain information privileges. Seventy hours ago a Federation scouting party investigated this system for suspected Dominion activity. As of 22:50 today The Federation and its allies will have committed 160 starships and over 1000 fighter craft to maintaining a military presence in this star system. In response, The Dominion, as of 23:00 hours today, will have diverted a total of 275 starships from the war effort. No doubt you are asking yourselves why."

"It had crossed my mind, sir," Sisko said.

"The Dominion was here first," Roark said. "I assumed we were stuck in a battle of escalation."

"And you are correct," Riker said, typing some code into a pad on the armrest. "Initially we _were_ simply reacting to The Dominion's interest in this system, and they were reacting to our reaction until eight hours ago. At roughly the same time the sensor information regarding the anomaly in this system was rerouted to the _Enterprise_ whereupon Lieutenant Commanders Data and Geordi La Forge were charged with investigating it."

Picard took over, "It is only due to the collective talents of Mr. Data and Mr. La Forge that we discovered the true reason for The Dominion's interest in this system." He activated the view screen on the wall at the end of the table. "Using information from a joint operation between Klingon, Romulan, and Federation sensor networks we have determined that five thousand years ago there were five terrestrial planets in this system instead of the three present day. By interpreting electromagnetic radiation 5000 lightyears distant we have determined that one of these planets exploded with enough force to disintegrate its closest neighbor. This planet's location was exactly where the anomaly has been detected today."

"Let me guess," Sisko said as he leaned forwards. "The spectral signature suggests that this planet had an unusually high concentration of dilithium."

Picard blinked and looked at Riker. "Yes…how did you know?"

"Something unusual I noticed about this system was its complete lack of dilithium, the first thing they teach in astrometrics is that all star systems with enough material to form planets have at least trace amounts. It's uncommon but not impossible for a majority of a system's deposits to be found in a single area. Any that wasn't in Serenity's main deposit would have been destroyed by the resonance event directly following the explosion."

Riker nodded and continued, "As far as we can tell the dilithium levels throughout the crust and upper mantel of AQ-99-4 were similar in concentration to the richer veins on the former Klingon moon Praxis. To give you a sense of scale, AQ-99-4 was 45% more massive than Earth. Judging from the explosion, we estimate there was enough ore to produce several thousand trillion tons of starship grade dilithium crystals. And something set it off."

"The subspace shockwave must have been enormous!" Roark said with a tone of hushed amazement. "Is this what we believe to be the cause of the anomaly?"

"Yes," said Lieutenant Commander Data as he appeared in a box next to the display on the view screen. "Captain, the anomaly occurred as predicted. The data sets match with the samples given from Deep Space Nine."

Picard let out a heavy sigh and raised his hand to his face. "Damn…"

Sisko turned to Worf and then back to Picard and Riker. "Deep Space Nine?"

"Yes, sir," Data said, tapping at some off screen console, bringing to view a set of charted sensor data. "This is the multi-spectral sensor signature of the Bajoran Wormhole taken from Deep Space Nine…" a second chart appeared next to it, it was exactly the same. "…And this is the signature of the AQ-99 anomaly."

"My god…" Sisko said with growing horror. "It's a wormhole?"

"Not quite, captain Sisko," Geordi said as he stood next to Data. "There are several small differences in both the chroniton and tachyon readings; the former seems to be in constant flux while the latter is only borderline present. Since this is an unprecedented event we can't say for certain just what this thing is, but what _I_ think we have here is an un-established wormhole."

"Excuse me…" Roark said, gauging the reactions of the other officers. "…By un-established, do you mean that this wormhole does not yet have a destination point?"

Data nodded. "That is correct Captain Roark. Lieutenant Commander La Forge and I believe that with a few modifications to a deflector dish and a working knowledge of space-time dynamics in relation to fourth-dimensional phenomena, this wormhole could possibly be manipulated into establishing a destination point." Data punched up the calculations and diagrams for their theory. "One could conceivably establish a destination point simply by projecting the correct sequence of chronitons and tachyons into the wormhole. By creating a space-time pattern similar to the one at the destination point, the wormhole would then bridge the gap and stabilize."

Sisko almost blanched, this was catastrophic news. "Are you telling me that The Dominion could possibly create a second wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant?"

"Yes," Picard said gravely. "It was only through sheer luck and skill that Mr. Data and Mr. La Forge were able to recognize a wormhole pattern from the sensor fragments supplied by your fleet. Now _we_ know, and the movements of The Dominion suggest that they know as well. I trust you now understand the gravity of this situation."

Roark ran his hand down his face; he had gone quite pale. "If The Dominion establishes another wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, it won't matter who we ally ourselves with, we'll be overrun…"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Sisko said intensely. "Mr. Data, Mr. La Forge. Is there some way to destroy it?"

Geordi shook his head. "At this point it can't be collapsed or closed, wormholes only become unstable once they've established themselves at two points in space. As it stands the Serenity anomaly is just a formless mass of subspace tears. I would suggest trying to establish a wormhole now, but there's no guarantee that the ship participating would survive."

"And that is why…" Picard said with a heavy sigh. "…The Federation Alliance has given us orders to either take the Serenity System and its anomaly or destroy it."

Roark looked over at Picard. "B-but I thought Lieutenant Commander La Forge said it couldn't be destroyed."

"He's not talking about the anomaly…" Sisko said with a low voice. "…He's talking about destroying the entire star system!"

Roark gasped. "_What_? But how?"

Picard leveled a stern gaze at both of them. "On your oath as Starfleet officers you must swear never to repeat what we are about to tell you. Should word of our actions here get out, Starfleet's relations with non-aligned powers in the Alpha Quadrant and its relationship with the citizens of the Federation itself is at risk. Understood?"

Sisko, Roark, and Worf all silently nodded. Riker spoke up as he typed a command into the keypad, a diagram of two photon torpedoes appeared on screen. "Using materials clandestinely procured by certain Romulan, Klingon, and Federation operatives for 'research purposes', we have altered two of our Mark-X photon torpedoes to carry a triple charge of protomatter, tekasite, and trilithium. We fire just one of these into the AQ-99 star and we have approximately five minutes before the resulting supernova and black hole destroy everything in this star system, anomaly included."

"That mixture sounds awfully familiar," Sisko said coldly. "I seem to recall an incident involving a changling and the Bajoran star."

Roark nodded. "Seems fitting, using The Dominion's own weapon against them."

"Such a dishonorable weapon…" Worf grumbled. "I can understand if the Romulans constructed such a device, but for the Federation and the Klingon Empire to dirty their hands with such activities…"

"Indeed you are right, Mr. Worf," Picard said. "The Federation and the Klingons merely gave us the protomatter and the tekacite respectively. It was through our Romulan contacts that we received both the trilithium and the schematics for the warhead, which we were then instructed to construct en route. I would like to clarify that these weapons are a last resort, if we can hold off the upcoming Dominion incursion long enough to reroute more forces here we may not have to use them."

"But the option remains," Riker said. "This system either exists in Allied control or not at all."

"Understood?" Picard said with finality.

"Understood," Sisko nodded.

"As you command," Worf rumbled.

"Yes sir!" Roark said.

"Good," Picard said. "Captain Sisko, Captain Roark, reinforcements will be arriving in twenty minutes at coordinates R7-14-Epsilon. I would like for you to prepare the fleet for their arrival. Ships incapable of warp due to damage are to be abandoned and their armaments and fuel stores rationed out to the rest of the fleet. However they are to be kept in working order as we may yet have use for them. Dismissed."

Roark, Sisko, and Worf made their way through the halls of the Enterprise. Crewmen passed around them, running to and fro to get the mighty ship ready for a fight. Roark had been talking for quite some time about the dispersion of resources taken from crippled ships.

"…So that's roughly a kiloton of antimatter we can share amongst the fleet. The _Brockway_ does not require her ration, how about the _Defiant_?"

"The _Defiant_ is still has ninety percent fuel reserves," Sisko said, giving Worf a small cue. The Klingon nodded shallowly and increased his pace, holding open a turbolift at the end of the hall. "Unlike many of the ships here, she was built for extended periods of combat."

"I see. That brings us to torpedoes; the _T'Shran_ and the _Creole_ are both Ambassador class vessels, after the battle they had both expended roughly sixty percent of their photon torpedo compliment. In addition to the 150 left over by the _Garrison_, we have about 350 torpedoes to spare."

As they neared the end of the hall Worf stood at the door to the turbolift, deflecting crewmen with a glower.

As they entered the turbolift Roark continued to talk. "I feel it necessary to inform you that the _Brockway_ has also expended sixty percent of her photon compliment, I believe that a larger ration is needed if the _Brockway_ is to be of any use. I estimate that the Brockway needs…100? 150?"

"I think what the _Brockway_ needs…" Sisko said as the doors closed. "…Is a captain with his head on straight!"

Sisko locked eyes with Roark and backed him into a wall. "What the _hell_ were you thinking when you attacked that battle cruiser?! You violated a direct order!"

Roark's eyes darted between Worf and Sisko. "I was trying to destroy their command center! Their ship movements and attacks became less coordinated and sluggish afterwards, we were able to inflict disproportionate casualties!"

"While they inflicted severe casualties on us!" Sisko retorted. "My strategy had it so we were losing about two capital ships per attack with one or two being severely damaged! We could have held out for another ten such incursions! But now, because of you, I've lost seven ships altogether along with another nine that won't survive the next attack. That is 3500 more people dead than necessary, 3500 more Starfleet personnel that won't make it back home! Because of _you_!"

Roark stiffened his jaw and leaned forwards, meeting Sisko's gaze. "In case you haven't noticed captain, we're at _war_! People are going to die, that's just what happens! If we act intelligently then maybe we can put those deaths to use!"

Sisko chuckled incredulously, "You don't get it do you? You've accomplished _nothing_! The Dominion reinforcements overshadow your accomplishments by more than an order of magnitude; a new command ship will arrive along with dozens of capital ships to replace the _escorts_ you destroyed. As it is, we stand to lose nearly a dozen ships in the next attack and for what, fifteen escorts and a battle cruiser? In an hour the Dominion presence here will outnumber ours by about twenty percent, that'll jump to thirty after the next attack. You may well have cost us this system Roark…I won't forget to log this into my dissertation of this engagement." Sisko stepped away, his eyes still burning a hole into Roark. "…Provided I survive, of course."

The turbolift stopped and the door opened. Without a word Sisko and Worf exited and made their way toward the transporter room. Roark paused for a moment before following, his stride now clipped and stiff.

Sisko stepped off the Defiant's transporter pad, acknowledged the transporter operator and headed straight for the door. Where his worry and apprehension had been there was now only a dull anger and the distant throb of a future headache. What irked him worst of all was that Roark was an effective fighter in his own way. Given a fresh fleet against an equal foe and the man could conceivably do great things for the war effort, his ability to inflict greater damage than normal would certainly be added in his appraisal of the man in his dissertation. Sisko disliked him, but was a fair judge nonetheless.

The door opened and a group of crewmen entered the room, a large frame holding nine photon torpedoes was ferried into the room on an anti-gravity trolley and maneuvered onto the transporter pad. "What's going on here?"

One of the crewmen looked up, a slightly nervous look on his face at the captain's tone. "Uuh s-sir! Excuse me, sir…Commander Kira organized a trade with the commanding officer of the _Brockway_ while you were out. Their quantum-modified torpedo launcher was damaged in the attack so they can only fire photon torpedoes. In exchange for our entire photon torpedo compliment they'll give us their 150 quantum torpedoes to replenish our stocks and form a surplus." He looked over at the rack on the pad as three more racks entered the room. "We're about a quarter of the way through now. After we send all our photons, the _Brockway_ will send the racks back but with quantums in them instead."

Sisko watched as Worf helped to muscle the racks into place. "Very good crewman. That will certainly free up the surplus torpedoes from the damaged ships to the rest of the fleet. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you sir. We will, sir."

'_We'll need every torpedo we can get…_'


	5. Chapter 4

Star Date: 51843.55

Common Era: 2374

Location: Serenity System

22:55

The battered fleet hovered in a scattered formation as ninety ships exited warp at the edge of the system. The twenty-five Romulan vessels, thirty Federation ships, and thirty-five Klingon warships presented a morale-boosting sight; the swarm of 800 fighter craft that darted amongst them gave the fleet a pleasingly bolstered presence on a sensor screen. The ship's commanders exchanged few pleasantries as they transmitted battle plans to one another and began divvying up the fleet into command squadrons. A few minutes later and the Dominion reinforcements arrived. The Allied fleet activated their impulse drives and sped towards the now advancing Dominion line. Outnumbered but not outgunned, the Allied fleet began to close the five million kilometer distance. Slightly less than a minute later and the frontline ships opened fire.

A squadron of Akira-class and Steamrunner-class starships formed a first wave assault and laid down a withering barrage of photon torpedoes. The other starships in the fleet fired a single torpedo each, programmed to fly slightly ahead of the main wave. Two seconds after firing and the torpedo swarm had entered the outliers of the Dominion's beam-weapon's targeting range, the torpedoes spearheading the surge detonated at carefully timed intervals. The targeting sensors of the Dominion vessels had been set to full sensitivity upon detecting the launch and were momentarily blinded by the sudden surge of radiation. The torpedo swarm streaked forwards, unimpeded by the out-of-date targeting vectors of the defending fleet. The torpedoes arched and swerved as they compensated for evasive maneuvers. Smaller ships were able to avoid most of the incoming ordinance, but enough hit their mark to destroy many of the attack ships damaged by the previous fighting. Larger ships withstood the fusillade; again, it was the war-weary veterans of the battle that fared the worst. By the time the last torpedo detonated 12 Dominion ships had been disabled, all of which had been previously damaged and would likely have been used as far more dangerous suicide ships.

The Dominion fleet had identified the Allies' strategy far sooner than anticipated and launched their remaining expendables at the Allied fleet. The ships pushed their damaged warp cores to the limit as they engaged, bridging the distance in a nearly imperceptibly short time. The jump took its toll and five ships detonated upon disengaging their drives, unable to harm any Allied ship. The others swooped and darted amongst the defending ships, firing full-bore and inflicting as much damage as possible before zeroing on their targets.

A stricken attack ship hurled itself at a Romulan warbird; it impacted the port nacelle and sheared itself in two. The nacelle crumpled and was torn away under the impact, but the warbird was spared total destruction as the innermost half of the attack ship sailed through the hollow center and detonated hundreds of kilometers away. Numerous secondary explosions blossomed throughout the mighty warship as the EPS conduits ruptured, the energy from the core that would have otherwise gone into the warp coils was now surging into other systems beyond the emergency capacitor's ability to compensate. The crewmen that were not vaporized by the explosions were pulverized by shrapnel and incinerated by conduit plasma; entire decks were turned into charnel houses, littered with body parts and green blood. Multiple hull breaches sucked screaming crew into the vacuum of space to die horribly.

"Engineering to bridge!" a bloodied Romulan crewman cried into the com. "The port nacelle has been completely destroyed! We've managed to avoid a core breach, but almost all the EPS conduits on decks 11 through 21 are overloading! Requesting core shut down!" she waited anxiously for an affirmation. "Bridge?!"

There was a familiar keening sound building from across the room, another conduit was overloading behind a work console; its occupant began a vain effort to flee. With a small exclamation of frustration the engineer began the core shut down procedure. There was a shrieking explosion and plasma flooded out at hypersonic velocities, the other console worker was reduced to a blast of viscera that impacted the wall above her station. A surge of shrapnel and superheated gasses followed.

The engineer groaned and clambered back up to her work console. Both her legs had been severed and her left hand was missing most of its fingers, but she could still see her objective through her remaining eye. She gasped and gagged on the superheated air as she completed the procedure. Another keening sound built up behind her console, she thumbed the last two commands and waited. The keening sound rose in pitch before winding down and fading completely. She drew another hitching breath before slumping forward and sliding to the floor.

23:03

Another attack ship streaked towards the _Brockway_, its smoldering engine manifolds sparking and sputtering as they pushed it towards the Federation ship. At a distance of 50 kilometers a barrage of phaser pulses racked up and down the crippled ship, disintegrating its entire front end. The ensuing reactor explosion scattered all but a few sections of plating that bounced harmlessly off of the _Brockway_'s shields. A more successful Dominion vessel nosedived and smashed into the saucer section of an Excelsior-class, lodging itself in the bow fuselage. The impact, while not enough to destroy either ship, sent the starship into a spin as its inertial dampers failed to completely shunt the momentum into its compensators.

"Damage control teams report to priority stations, cascade prevention is now priority one!" the captain shouted into the com. "Evacuation of non-engineering staff in saucer section is now in effect!"

A wounded lieutenant pushed a dead officer slumped over a command console, hurriedly typing in commands, intermittently coughing from the chemical smoke choking the air. "Sir! Shields are down and power is out in large sections of the ship. The Jem'Hadar ship has somehow maintained antimatter containment."

"For now…" the captain grumbled, wiping blood from a nasty gash from his forehead out of his eye. "We'll have to shut down all power to the saucer section, any surge could set it off."

"Shutting off the power could cause a momentary surge in the EPS conduits, sir."

"Reroute to it to the phaser banks," he commanded. "It'll fuse them solid, but they won't explode."

"Yessir."

The captain looked out at his bridge crew, of the original twelve only seven remained, all of them struggling around a burn or an embedded chunk of shrapnel. Five of the most talented people he knew lay dead on the floor or slumped over at their stations. Lieutenant-Commander Esthridge was going to treat them all to a poem once all this was done; ensign To'Landra was going to be her accompanist…

"Captain!" the lieutenant shouted over the din of klaxons. "We're detecting power surges from the Jem'Hadar ship!"

He sprung into action, leaping over to the navigation console and hammered in code for an emergency maneuver.

Emergency force fields holding the atmosphere in the ship were deactivated and hundreds of tons of atmosphere blasted into space around the embedded ship. The ship's ventral thrusters caused it to lurch up for half a second before the dorsal thrusters thundered to life. Loosened by the explosion of atmospheric gasses and momentum gained by the upward climb, the Jem'Hadar ship pulled away from the Federation ship and drifted away. The damaged Excelsior-Class limped away from the surging ship, putting almost fifteen kilometers between it and the enemy before it exploded. A nacelle, propelled by the enormous blast, tumbled through space at hundreds of kilometers per second. It crashed into the partially erected shields and collapsed them instantly; it proceeded to smash into the bridge, crushing the pylon in a muted explosion.

Similar scenarios played out across the fleet and inside of two minutes all fifteen sacrificial ships had either been destroyed or had found their targets. Fortunately, the Allies had anticipated such a tactic and a redoubtable defense had been erected, of the fifteen suicide runs only seven had succeeded in ramming a ship, and of those only four went down with all hands. Like their Dominion counterparts they too recovered and rallied far faster than anticipated as the Allies prepared to attack.

23:10

"All ships in Delta Squadron," Captain Sisko said into the com. "Follow the _Defiant_ in an attack on the Dominion's outer formations. Formation D-Seven Niner-Two, soften up their point defense for our long-range torpedo attacks!"

"Captain!" Colonel Kira said, looking up from her console. "Long range scans are detecting a large vessel exiting warp ten million kilometers behind the Dominion line…it's a…dreadnought."

Sisko blinked and turned back to the viewscreen. "Onscreen."

The immense ship lumbered through space, filling the screen with its enormous bulk as gnat-like attack ships swarmed about it. It was far larger than any ship in the Allied fleet by kilometers and was bristling with weaponry. It began to advance towards the system's star, closing in on the anomaly as the rest of the fleet covered its rear.

"Impossible…" Ensign Nog muttered in horror. "It's even bigger than the ship the _Valiant_ faced!"

"A new kind of warship…" Sisko said as he signaled to Dax to open a communications link to the fleet. "…For a unique situation. Commanders of the fleet, this is Captain Benjamin Sisko. Destroying that dreadnought is now our top priority! A ship that size would not only have a deflector dish complex enough to establish that wormhole, but the powerplant to back it up!"

"Agreed," Captain Picard said with a nod. "A section will have to run interference with the Dominion forces while we concentrate our attack on that flagship. Suicide attacks will no doubt increase once our intent is made clear."

Captain Roark's face appeared next to Picard. "Captain, I have just finished consulting with Captain Ko'Loth of the Klingon fleet and Captain Byzaan of the Romulan fleet. We will lead the bulk of our forces in a feint advance on the dreadnought to draw away the main Dominion Fleet whilst the _Enterprise_ and twenty ships of your choosing engage it."

Captain Ko'Loth appeared next to Roark and gestured affirmative. "As the most powerful ship with the most experienced crew, we feel that the Enterprise is the best candidate for leading this assault."

"Understood. I accept," Picard said. '_We are also uniquely equipped to deal with the situation should the battle be unwinnable…_'

"I volunteer the _Defiant_ and Delta Squadron to accompany the Enterprise on its mission," Sisko announced.

Picard nodded. "I can't think of a better squadron to assist."

Sisko waited until the screen went dark before smirking. "Someone has to make sure you don't get blown out of the sky."

"It is not wise to underestimate Captain Picard," Worf said with a knowing smile. "But you are correct that he will need our assistance."

23:15

The _Enterprise_ and twenty ships held back as the rest of the fleet surged forwards in an obvious beeline for the dreadnought. The Dominion fleet mobilized instantly the head off the swarm of on-coming starships. There was a nearly audible thud as the two fleets collided, a thin margin of glittering beams and flashing explosions dotted the sensor screen. As the mighty fleets clashed the dreadnought lurched towards the system's star accompanied by four battlecruisers and two squadrons of Jem'Hadar attack ships. The impulse engines of the Allied task force flared and they gave chase. The Dominion ships attempted to signal for help, but their communications were jammed both by their pursuers and the Allied forces engaging their fleet. The escort ships turned and engaged their attackers with torpedo barrages.

The Dominion task force was hampered by the slow speed of their gargantuan protectorate while the Allied attack group was agile and determined; the gap between them began to close. As they approached full impulse, the two forces exchanged beam and torpedo fire, the beams of the pursuing fleet now taking on an almost sluggish quality as both sides experienced time dilation. The torpedoes' sustainer engines allowed them to maintain faster-than-impulse speeds for the short time it took to bridge the two light second gap. The glowing oblongs of orange and blue light danced and flickered through space, silently impacting the sturdy shields of the mighty Dominion capital ships.

The dreadnought fired its aft torpedo launchers and long-range polaron beam cannons. The flurry of ordinance streaked back at the Allied ships, a Miranda-Class took four beam strikes to its forward shields before a torpedo smashed into it. The weakened defensive screens absorbed the bulk of the warhead before they collapsed, but the fraction of energy that got through shattered the forward saucer-section like a dinner plate, obliterating the bridge. The lobotomized ship quavered for a moment before falling out of formation, adrift as its momentum carried it forward.

The _Enterprise_ let loose a flurry of quantum and photon torpedoes and long-range phaser bursts. The blistering volley smashed into the shields of a selfless battlecruiser that pushed itself into the line of fire. The _Enterprise_'s fire proved too accurate and ferocious to withstand and the battlecruiser's shields buckled on the port dorsal quadrant, shearing an entire nacelle from the warship, causing it to spin uncontrollably and fall out of formation. Even as it fell behind it continued to unleash a furious but unfocused attack, unable to hit its targets as it spun out into space. The Allies drew closer still.

As they approached the anomaly the Dominion forces abruptly broke off from the dreadnought and charged at the Allied fleet, weapons blazing. To avoid a catastrophic impact the Allies slowed dispersed in all directions. Jem'Hadar attack ships instantly engaged the Klingon wing of the fleet as the battlecruisers occupied themselves with the Romulan portion, the following dogfight ensured that neither side could adequately focus firepower or outflank the other. Only the _Enterprise_, the _Defiant_, and the three ships from Delta Squadron managed to break from the melee and resume their attack on the dreadnought. The five ships sped towards their target, even with the might of the _Enterprise_ and the skill of the _Defiant_, victory against this foe was far from guaranteed.

23:28

"Delta Squadron, report!" Sisko commanded.

"The _Mont Zinit_, reporting in," Captain D'Redix said.

"The _Beowulf_ is ready to fight, sir," Captain Reedy responded.

"This is the _Shran_. We have five fighter squadrons ready to launch, sir," announced Captain Claness.

Sisko nodded, this was good. The _Beowulf_ was a Nebula-Class starship with a dorsal torpedo unit, a veritable juggernaut of shields and weaponry. The _Mont Zinit_ was an Ambassador-Class starship; it was fast, powerful, and quite sturdy, a compromise between the speed of the _Defiant_ and the firepower of the _Beowulf_. The _Shran_ was an Akira-Class, meant for long-range bombardment and fighter support, the perfect compliment to the _Defiant_, the _Mont Zinit_, and the _Beowulf_ attack stratagem. But then there was the _Enterprise_, a Sovereign-Class starship. Sisko admitted that he was unfamiliar with the exact specifications of this class; he knew that they were likely the most powerful warships the Federation had ever produced; they were fast, they were tough, and they were exceptionally well armed. They were all-rounders, he hated all-rounders; they were nightmares for strategists because of their lack of specialization. Enterprise could easily serve as a charge-leading battleship, a hit-and-run attack ship, or a long-range bombardment platform without a noticeable loss in performance in any field. Because it could do it all and set the bar while doing so, its placement on a battlefield would have to be based solely on the merits of its commander. He was fully aware of the negative impacts his own biases and prejudices had on his judgment of Picard's abilities, but he wasn't prepared to risk a battle purely for the sake of giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"Mr. Worf…" Sisko paused, how to broach this subject to a man as loyal as Worf? 'Where should I put your former captain and mentor so that he won't get us all killed?' probably wasn't the way to do it.

"Captain Picard would likely prefer to engage in stand-off bombardment with the _Shran_, engaging in direct combat later as the battle progresses," Worf responded, having divined the question from Sisko's reticence. "I would like to remind the captain again not to underestimate Captain Picard."

"Yes, I'll keep that in mind, thank you Mr. Worf," Sisko said with a smirk. "Open a channel with him, will you, Old Man?"

Dax nodded. "We're hailing the _Enterprise_."

"Captain Picard, I have formulated a plan of attack that will allow us to maximize damage while keeping the _Enterprise_'s cargo relatively safe."

"I'm listening," Picard said slowly.

23:30

The dreadnought halted and began to probe the anomaly from a distance of 1.5 million kilometers. It's massively powerful deflector dish firing tachyon and chroniton pulses into the mass of subspace tears.

"It's beginning the process!" Picard exclaimed. "According to Mr. Data's assessment of Dominion computing capabilities, it should take them approximately ten minutes to establish the wormhole."

"That's all I need to hear," Sisko said tersely. "All ships, fire!"

All five ships fired a withering barrage of photon and quantum torpedoes. The orange and blue glowing missiles raced towards the dreadnought as fast as their micro-impulse engines would allow. The torpedoes slammed into the shields of the enormous warship, their destructive energies harmlessly muted flashes of light as the force field dispersed them. The _Defiant_ and her two escorts flew towards the Dominion warship, phasers and torpedoes blazing as concentrated barrages from the two ships behind them arced across the battlefield. The dreadnought didn't bother fighting back against the oncoming attackers; energy that would have otherwise gone to weapons was redirected into the shields and deflector array.

"They're not even bothering to defend themselves!" Worf said incredulously.

"Why bother?" Sisko said grimly. "All they need to do is make sure their shields stay up while they tear open that wormhole!"

"We're just not doing enough damage, captain!" Kira said, frustrated. "Even if we had all twenty ships we wouldn't get that thing's shields down in time."

"We can't afford to think like that, Colonel!" Sisko barked. "We have to…we…"

Sisko was suddenly standing as the bridge fell away from him, his surroundings bled away into white light. An all-too-familiar feeling of weightlessness overcame him as the white light solidified into the shapes of his father's restaurant. He was in their plane, the temple of a race of non-linear beings known by their mortal worshippers on Bajor simply as The Prophets.

"Greetings," the Prophet assuming his father's form said from behind. "We have news to share with The Sisko."

Sisko spun around. "Now is a bad time."

"Elaborate," his 'father' demanded. "How do terms expressing dichotomous moral and ethical states translate to the relative temporal planes you occupy?"

"It–" Sisko sighed and gestured dismissively. "It's not important. What _is_ important is the Dominion opening a new wormhole! That affects you, if I remember correctly!"

"You do," said a voice from behind, it was in the form of his son, Jake. "The Sisko intends to stop them?"

"That's right, and I can't stop them if I'm here!" he snapped. "Return me at once!"

"There is no danger," 'Jake' said dismissively. "We have temporarily arrested the flow of time surrounding the opening. It was not difficult."

"We are currently conducting an experiment," his 'father' said quickly. "Your ships will retreat to a safe distance."

"But what about the Dominion?" Sisko said insistently.

"Your ships will retreat to a safe distance." 'Jake' said tersely.

Sisko lurched forwards in his chair; beads of sweat pouring down his brow; Dax turned around, worry clear on her face. "Captain?"

"All ships!" Sisko said abruptly. "All ships retreat to the standoff line!"

"Sir?" Ensign Nog exclaimed.

"Do it ensign!" Sisko barked. "The Prophets are up to something!"

The _Defiant_, the _Mont Zinit_, and the _Beowulf_ all banked hard, their impulse engines thrumming as they tore away from the dreadnought at full speed. As they did the dreadnought fired another pulse into the growing anomaly. As the pulse flashed against the tears there was a blinding explosion of light, a pulse raced back out and impacted the dreadnought. The enormous ship listed as its nacelles ceased to glow and its light began to flicker, its power drained.

"The dreadnought, sir." Miles O'Brian said. "It's dead. I'm detecting minimal power readings from inside the ship, their warp core is completely offline."

"How are they maintaining antimatter containment?" Kira said incredulously.

"It's been deactivated," Dax responded. "Its charge has been switched from negative to positive, its just deuterium now."

Sisko smirked and shook his head. "At least try to sound a _little_ surprised, Old Man."

"It's nothing I haven't seen before, sir!" Dax said with a smirk. "There was this one time Kurzon encountered a planet-eating robot that could do the exact same thing! Looked like a giant cigar…"

"Captain!" Kira shouted from her station. "A wormhole is opening!"

"What?!" Sisko said, shocked.

"Something's coming through!"

"Put it on screen!" Sisko ordered, rising to his feet as she did. "…My…god!"

A wormhole identical to the one in the Bajoran system pulsed and undulated before them, in front of it were thousands of points of light, flashing and shimmering distortions in space and time that instantly flashed out of existence.

"Starships!" O'Brian exclaimed. "I'm detecting several hundred…no…several _thousand_ starships!"

Sisko looked out at the ships that filled the viewscreen. They were unlike any ship he'd seen before, long and boxy, without any discernable warp nacelles or impulse manifolds. What he could recognize were the dozens of apertures that were clustered at their bows and dotted their sides: beam cannons and missile tubes, _dozens _of them. Every ship, _each and every ship_, was a warship.

"Chief…how many?"

O'Brian looked up from his console, an uncharacteristic blanche forming in his cheeks. "Six…six thousand two hundred ships, sir."

"Captain!" Dax said. "We're receiving a general hail from the largest ship."

Sisko didn't turn from the viewscreen. "Put it on screen."

The screen flickered and before them stood a Terran man of maybe thirty in a dark green military uniform. He had a tall, somewhat almond-shaped face topped by a tangled mess of thick black hair; his dark brown eyes were large, wide, and somewhat tired-looking. "Unregistered vessels, this is Rear Admiral Yang Wenli, Commanding Officer to the Thirteenth Fleet of the Free Planet's Alliance. Identify yourselves and state your business."

Sisko gestured to Dax to open a channel and said. "This is captain Benjamin Sisko of USS _Defiant_. Admiral Yang, on behalf of the United Federation of Planets, I welcome you and your fleet to the Alpha Quadrant."

Yang Wenli blinked at this announcement, what was the 'Alpha Quadrant'? He opened his mouth to ask when a startled navigations officer spun around to look up at him. "Sir! The stars, they're different!"

"What?"

"The computer's run through every star chart for every system within our warp range from Tiamat, nothing's matching up! I don't know how, sir, but we're not in any starzone within Alliance space."

Yang turned to the man on the screen. "Allow me to confer with my people, captain."

Captain Sisko nodded and the screen went dark, Yang rubbed his head under his beret. '_Hmm…must have been that anomaly that sent us here. Makes sense, or, as much sense as possible given the situation. A miscalculated warp wouldn't have put us this far into a star's gravity well, and the lack of matching star charts seems to suggest a different part of the galaxy, maybe even a different galaxy altogether! But what about those ships out there? Benjamin seems human enough, but I've never seen a ship like that outside of science fiction…suppose…we're __**not**__ in our galaxy, or any other galaxy for that matter? Suppose we're in an…alternate dimension?_' Yang Wenli sipped his tea. '_I'm surprised I'm taking this as well as I am! My men are relying on me; I'll have to have a meltdown on my own time!_'

"Admiral…" Sub-Lieutenant Greenhill said insistently. "…Your orders?"

Admiral Yang immediately straightened and cleared his throat. "I need a full spectrum scan of the entire starzone, I want every relevant parameter regarding this star and its planets catalogued as soon as possible and disseminated to the fleet. Sub-Lieutenant Greenhill, dispatch a communiqué to the fleet's flag officers that there will be a conference at 01:00 hours and that I want stocks on fuel, ammunition, and food to be taken. Rationing strategies are to be formulated and presented at the meeting. You may go."

"Yes sir!" Sub-Lieutenant Greenhill said with a nod.

She turned to leave when Admiral Yang called after her. "Sub-Lieutenant!"

"Yes sir?"

"When you come back, bring me a bottle of brandy, would you?"

"Of course, sir!"

"Admiral!" a tactical officer said. "Mid-range scans are detecting a small group of starships, less than forty, approximately eight lightseconds away. We're detecting what appears to be weapons fire. There is also a larger conflict over two hundred lightseconds away involving approximately four hundred ships."

"Re-open communications with the _Defiant_," Yang said sternly, turning back to the screen. '_It's the same all over…_'

Benjamin Sisko waited until the screen went dark before exhaling. He turned to Chief O'Brian who looked back at him. Sisko's expression conveyed his orders instantly, '_I __**need**__ tactical information!_'

"Scanning," O'Brian said, tapping his console. "The flagship possesses 112 identifiable beam weapon emitters, forty-eight missile launchers, and what appear to be launching bays for fighter craft. Shields appear to be present, but the operating mechanism is currently unknown. The hull is composed of a kind of composite of monocrystalline alloy with ablative ceramic plating, interference with scans suggests that the hull is at least several meters thick in places. No apparent warp signature or impulse manifolds, rather the main propulsion unit appears to be a highly efficient form of nuclear pulse drive."

Sisko nodded, by Federation standards it was all quite primitive, but something told him that underestimating the newcomers could be a potentially fatal blunder. "What kind of weapons, Chief?"

"Unknown. Between their shields and armor the scans are having trouble getting anything concrete, sir," he looked up from the console and at the viewscreen. "Scans suggest the main powerplant is a highly efficient form of fusion reactor, comparable to a…medium-sized warp core."

"But that's impossible!" Worf said incredulously. "No fusion reactors known to the Federation can match a medium warp core!"

"Until now, anyway," Sisko muttered before turning to Dax. "Has either Dominion fleet spotted them?"

"No sir, the radiation surge from the wormhole is blotting them out for the time being," she said. "Only the ships that broke through the Dominion line are at the right vantage point to see them."

"Speaking of our fellow line-breakers…" Sisko said amusedly. "Has the _Enterprise_ tried to hail us?"

"For the past two minutes, sir," Dax said with a smirk. "I didn't want to interrupt your dialogue with the admiral."

"Damn decent of you," Sisko chuckled, idly fidgeting with his armrest console for a few seconds. "Lieutenant-Commander…respond to the _Enterprise_."

The visage of captain Picard filled the screen, Sisko silently mused at the ever-so-subtle tweak in the normally collected captain's demeanor. "Captain Sisko. Good of you to finally respond, we've detected that you've been in communication with the largest ship. Care to enlighten us as to the nature of the situation?"

"During the battle I was contacted by The Prophets and instructed to withdraw, I'm operating under the impression that this is their doing." Captain Sisko signaled to O'Brian to send Picard the information they had gathered. "The fleet is commanded by one Rear Admiral Yang Wenli, he claims to represent an organization he calls the Free Planets Alliance. He _appears_ to be human."

"Very good," Captain Picard said with a nod. "Diplomatic processes will hereby be transferred to the _Enterprise_. We–"

"Captain Picard," Captain Sisko cut in. "This is still a very delicate situation. I believe I have developed a rapport with Admiral Yang."

Dax shot him an incredulous look, her expression saying '_Rapport, Benjamin?_'

'_Quiet, you!_' he signaled, "It is my opinion that the _Defiant_ should maintain communications with the Free Planets Alliance fleet for the time being."

"Captain Sisko, the _Enterprise_ is sanctioned by the Federation to–" Picard began to say when the FPA flagship hailed the _Defiant_.

"One moment, captain," Sisko said, barely keeping the smile off his face. He had faith that The Prophet had done this for a reason. It was no coincidence that _he_ had been assigned to this system last minute, and as their Emissary he was obligated to facilitate and communicate their will. This 'Yang Wenli' was obviously a part of their plan. "I don't want to keep the admiral waiting."

The tired-looking man in a beret once again occupied the screen; Sisko rose to his feet and nodded respectfully. "Greetings Admiral Yang, I trust you have conversed with your people? Are you in need of assistance?"

"For the time being, no, thank you. Captain Sisko, would you explain to me the nature of the conflict here?" Admiral Yang said curtly, he was clearly in no mood for obfuscation. "Until we are able to return to our nation's space, we would prefer to remain neutral in whatever event you are partaking in."

"While I will not speak for our opponents, I can guarantee that you are currently in no danger of attack from the Federation and its allies."

"And your enemies?" Admiral Yang said cautiously.

Captain Sisko cleared his throat; this was an opportunity that was too good to pass up; primitive or no, a nearly unthinkable number of warships had just become available. There was more than enough to prompt the Dominion to retreat from the system, or win a battle should they wish to push the issue. "I understand that while this declaration has little merit coming from me, I can assure you that your people will find no allies in the Dominion. Just as it was with us, your very existence is an act of war to them."

"You're right," Yang said, a frustrated crease forming in his brow "Your declaration does have little merit. The desperation of warfare will inspire the noblest man to acquire an advantage by any means necessary. I'm afraid further investigation is warranted before a stance can be taken."

'_Well, here goes…_' Sisko swallowed quietly and leveled a stern gaze at Admiral Yang. "Do not take this as any sort of threat, but I'd like to share with you a cold hard fact, Admiral. You're new here, you don't know how to get back home, and you've walked into a war with a large fleet of battleships. How long do you think you can convince _either_ side that you're not a threat? No, what you_**need**_…is a friend. We can offer you technical support, supplies, information, we may even be able to get you and your men back home, but only if you work with us!"

Yang regarded the Federation captain, while significantly more straightforward and brusque than first-contact negotiations likely should be, he conceded than he had a point.

'_As a flag officer, my political duty is to promote the best interests of my country. It would be a grievous dereliction of my duties to entangle the FPA is yet another war with yet another enemy!_' he looked out at the assorted bridge crew, young men and women all of them, and they were looking to him for guidance. '_…But my political duty only extends so far. I am, first and foremost, an admiral in a militarized navy, and my military duty is to those under my command, to keep them safe and preserve their lives whenever possible. 700,000 enlisted officers and at least twice as many conscripts could live or die based on my next decision…I could really use that brandy right about now…_'

Yang sighed and nodded, he prayed that this was the right choice, and picked up the fleet-wide communicator. "Captain Sisko, you have a deal. Ships of the 13th Fleet…battle stations."

The fleet stirred from its surprised stupor. The sheer magnitude of the confusion felt by the 13th Fleet meant that the orders given were accepted without question, its soldiers retreating to the comfort of military conditioning rather than contemplate the nature of their situation. The ships of the fleet moved with a precision and determination that almost seemed rehearsed and practiced, when in reality it was the masterful coordination of Commodore Fischer that permitted Yang's fleet its speed. Battleships and cruisers staggered themselves amongst the far more numerous destroyers, creating an ideal mixture of offensive and defensive firepower. The protective covers for the beam cannons on all ships were uncovered and missile launchers were primed.

"Tactical," Yang commanded. "Any information you have on the nearest battle."

"Yes sir! There are currently 35 ships in total, 6 match the configuration of the Federation ships we've contacted, distance is eight lightseconds," Lieutenant Commander Stockley said. "We have a clean lock on each ship, sir, they have not established any EM-Wave Interception Fields and their sensor interception appears limited to internal scans."

"What do you make of their capabilities?" Yang said, noticing Sub-Lieutenant Greenhill as she exited the bridge, a bottle of brandy tucked under her arm.

"Their beam weaponry is of an unknown type with unknown parameters, but typical engagement ranges appear to be under one lightsecond. Explosive weaponry utilizes an unknown mechanism, but appears to be at least comparable to our heavy anti-ship and light anti-formation fusion warheads. Enemy ships have displayed accelerations far superior to our own, but exact nature of the drive remains unknown."

"Relay a fleet-wide communiqué to load one light anti-formation warhead and prepare standard anti-ship missiles for immediate launch." Admiral Yang lifted the communicator to his mouth. "All ships, prepare to fire on the small fleet. Keep your fire tight and accurate; try not to hit any of the retreating ships." He signaled to the communications officer to contact the _Defiant_. "Captain Sisko, tell your allies in the smaller conflict to begin a withdrawal, we will commence artillery bombardment in ten seconds."

The Federation captain looked surprised for a moment before gesturing to an officer off-screen. "Done…what do you mean by 'artillery'?"

"This," Yang said, raising the communicator to his mouth. "All ships, target enemy craft and engage the EM-Wave Interception Field and sensor countermeasure suites…fire!"

The wall of ships lit up as tens of thousands of neutron beam cannons fired simultaneously. The beams were tightly compacted steams of neutrons crushed together by precisely calibrated gravitational fields and accelerated to almost the speed of light, giving each particle tremendous kinetic energy. The extent to which they had been focused by their gravity lenses gave them extraordinary cohesion over long distances; as such they radiated very little energy beyond a faint blue-white glow. The particle beams lanced across the 2.4 million kilometers in just a microsecond over eight seconds.

The target ships were still reeling from the abrupt departure of their opponents and the inscrutable 'fog' that had suddenly dulled their sensors when the beams converged on their location. The beams had only begun to lose cohesion when they impacted the already worn shields of the Dominion ships, instantly shattering the defenses of six Dominion attack ships and passed through their hulls as though they were air. The enormous kinetic energy of the neutron beam bled catastrophic amounts of thermal energy into the ships, igniting the atmosphere and melting five-meter-wide holes clear through the fuselage. Six attack ships were instantly dotted with molten holes in multiple groupings of eight and six, rupturing warp cores and antimatter containment pods causing each ship to explode spectacularly. Other attack ships faired better as their shields barely held under the onslaught, the three remaining battlecruisers weathered the attack but power surges from the sudden strain began to exacerbate previous damage. The fleet rallied and surged towards the source of the attack at one-quarter impulse.

The 13th Fleet staggered its fire between destroyers and cruisers, using their greater numbers as range-finding shots for the larger warships to focus their more powerful cannons. Jem'Hadar attack ships bobbed and weaved amongst the destroyer fire, but as they grew closer the attacks became more and more accurate and increasingly more difficult to evade. One by one the numerous attack ships drew concentrated fire and blossomed into expanding clouds of plasma until only the hardier battlecruisers remained. The larger ships were now subject to the combined attacks of dozens of warships each, even their mighty shields began to buckle and fail. The lead ship was suddenly marred by enormous wounds of glowing metal as the hull was raked by cannon fire, huge swaths of molten hull were ripped away as overlapping fire tore into the ship. The lances of high-energy particles shredded the internal structures of the ship, rupturing the warp core.

As the first ship disappeared into a bright ball of high-energy plasma, another battlecruiser pushed ever forwards, struggling to bring its new enemies within firing range. Second after agonizing second passed as it drew closer, neutron beams punching though the hull and scourging entire decks of life. Its bow torpedo launchers glowed and began to fire when a small craft darted forward and fired two quick bursts at the behemoth ship. Four one-meter-wide holes were instantly punched into the hull surrounding the launcher and an instant later the bow section of battlecruiser was torn apart by its own detonating ordinance. The warship listed before a well-placed cannon shot put a glowing five-meter-wide hole in the smoldering wreckage of its bow, coring it and rupturing its antimatter fuel tanks.

Dozens of agile Spartanian fighters beset the third and final battlecruiser on all sides, their small size belying their incredible firepower. The many polaron beams of the warship were too slow to even hope to hit the nimble craft as they danced across every axis available. The battlecruiser's cover fire managed to keep the Spartanians at bay long enough to fire two torpedoes before concentrated battleship fire dealt it a similar fate as its brethren. The two torpedoes flashed forward into the formation on a collision course with the battleship Ulysses, a moment later they were destroyed as every electron beam cannon from almost eighty surrounding ships flashed to life to shoot them down.

The 13th Fleet's engines glowed as the order was given. Slowly but surely the mass of warships accelerated towards the larger battle.


End file.
